Amnot Borg Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Regular spacesuits don't give astronauts much range of motion, what with the huge bulk that their gas-pressurized nature require. People who travel through the cosmos in scifi shows and movies always have much cooler suits, ones that allow for all sorts of moving around. Well, it looks like that concept is moving away from the fiction side of things and right to the plain old science side. Story is here. MIT is developing newer, form-fitting suits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones2097 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 she'll freeze here faculties off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slug Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 The whole space program is in danger of cancellation if astronauts don't wear body hugging suits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 It starts with form-fitting space-suits, next comes the null-grav pornography! . . . I can't wait! I just hope it looks as good on the guys as it does on whoever that is in the picture. But back on topic, I think that if they can find a way to create an effective spacesuit without all the bulk of the old fashioned moon landing gear, it's completely worth the years they're putting into it. But if you take into account Hofstadter's Law, we'll probably be terraforming mars before these suits are practical for use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 The suit uses mechanical counter-pressure rather than gas pressure, exerting force on the astronauts body to protect them from the vacuum of space. They hope to have it ready to roll in about 10 years, just in time for a manned mission to Mars. The full MIT version of the story is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 If you want some more info on this, this is the research page on MIT on extravehicular research: http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/index.html Specific link leads to this projects page. I still wonder about the amount of protection such a suit can offer, though I guess we may find that out in a couple of years? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 "It always takes longer, it always costs more, it will always be harder, there will always be more, there will always be less than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law." I really can't wait until they come out, though. That's one step closer to my science fiction fantasies. They're much more aesthetically pleasing than the older space suits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 A bit off-topic, but you keep referencing "Hofstadter's Law", this law is just about as much of a law as "Murphy's Law", so no "Law" at all... For some tasks, one can very correctly estimate the time to completion, for others it's more intelligent guessing, in any case, this law does not give any evidence whatsoever that it would take longer than 10 years to complete this project, note that it is easily possible to have a convergion in the timeline so that it will never actually exceed 10 years, even infinitely taking into account this self-referencing law. ;) (in effect what it boils down to is that it's (or would be) impossible to completely accurately estimate the time to completion of a project, even though you can easily estimate a time when it will definately be done in most project cases) Enough philosophical talk though. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 I still wonder about the amount of protection such a suit can offer, though I guess we may find that out in a couple of years? :) time will tell but the ease of repair seems to be like bandaging a wound if there is a tiny leak. just wrap it up and head for base or the lander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 A bit off-topic, but you keep referencing "Hofstadter's Law", this law is just about as much of a law as "Murphy's Law", so no "Law" at all... For some tasks, one can very correctly estimate the time to completion, for others it's more intelligent guessing, in any case, this law does not give any evidence whatsoever that it would take longer than 10 years to complete this project, note that it is easily possible to have a convergion in the timeline so that it will never actually exceed 10 years, even infinitely taking into account this self-referencing law. ;) (in effect what it boils down to is that it's (or would be) impossible to completely accurately estimate the time to completion of a project, even though you can easily estimate a time when it will definately be done in most project cases) Enough philosophical talk though. :D What I'm trying to say is, I'm incredibly pessimistic about the time this is going to take. I'm worried for the space program. It's not like I can cheerlead for the people at MIT, though, holding a sign that says, "Go, Engineers, Go!". I'm not sure whether I'm saying this for everyone else or for myself, but we've got a long way to go before we start a manned mission to mars and it accomplishes a whole lot. (One of my dreams is to colonize somewhere no human has lived before, and this is a step closer. I must not get my hopes up . . . I must not get my hopes up . . . ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 A mission to Mars will be great but we need to build the lunar and L-5 colonies first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 What I'm trying to say is, I'm incredibly pessimistic about the time this is going to take. I'm worried for the space program. It's not like I can cheerlead for the people at MIT, though, holding a sign that says, "Go, Engineers, Go!". I'm not sure whether I'm saying this for everyone else or for myself, but we've got a long way to go before we start a manned mission to mars and it accomplishes a whole lot. (One of my dreams is to colonize somewhere no human has lived before, and this is a step closer. I must not get my hopes up . . . I must not get my hopes up . . . ) Oh, I can definately agree to that, in the end what it most boils down to is money (when you think about it, in this world there's a lot what that would apply to, the essence of things boiling down to money/resources, it's an unfortunate and sad fact), but the last reports (I heard) show that they've finally given NASA a somewhat bigger budget, so that at least is a positive sign (I'd hope). I most definately do have doubts about manned missions to Mars in the next 15-20 years, last I heard was they were going back to the Moon by 2018 something, Mars is quite a lot farther out, they'd have to take things on a big more grand to accomplish such a feat successfully. What would be truely awesome, would be a base on Mars, but that'll take over 50 years at least (I'm guessing). Why not cheer on the engineers? That would be really crazy, yet original (I think). :cyclops: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Ergh. I'm hoping I can freeze myself until they start colonizing. Cheering on the engineers . . . hm . . . I'll go get my duct-tape miniskirt with the LEDs on it, or maybe I could even wear one of the new designs this topic is supposed to be about. I think I could make some pompoms out of discarded wiring and scrap plastic, though. "Derive! Design! Be progressive! P-R-PROGRESSIVE!" "2-4-6-8- Who can't procreate? GENIUSES! GO ENGINEERS!" They may never sleep with a woman, but I appreciate their hard work. This post was entirely off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 We noticed.... and some geniuses do indeed procreate and design. All they have to do is leave a deposit at the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalith Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 They may never sleep with a woman' date=' but I appreciate their hard work.[/quote'] I guess they are too busy designing spacesuits to procreate ;) perhaps Mars will end up being like some Douglas Adams scenario in the future, they will send shoe salesmen and hairdressers in the first wave then discover its too expensive to realistically proceed to the 2nd wave and abandon the project leaving Mars as a colony of well heeled and groomed idiots. If they do put a base on the moon i hope that the inhabitants are forced to wear purple wigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 lol, anime looking colored wigs were so popular in the 70's, the creators of UFO thought wigs would be uniform components. that's the only reason we got to see those great purple haired female officers on the moon. >:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 They may never sleep with a woman' date=' but I appreciate their hard work.[/quote'] I guess they are too busy designing spacesuits to procreate ;) perhaps Mars will end up being like some Douglas Adams scenario in the future, they will send shoe salesmen and hairdressers in the first wave then discover its too expensive to realistically proceed to the 2nd wave and abandon the project leaving Mars as a colony of well heeled and groomed idiots. If they do put a base on the moon i hope that the inhabitants are forced to wear purple wigs. I would consent to that if it meant I could live and work on the moon. But if they send all the hairdressers and shoe salesmen, we'll all end up barefoot and messy looking . . . on Earth. which may be EXACTLY the way the engineers want it. We could get so much more done scientifically if we didn't have to worry about our hair, shoes, or hygiene. I'd much rather date an MIT graduate who designed the self-sustaining hydroponic space farm and only showers once every couple weeks than a clean idiot. But I'm a dirty hippie like that. It won't matter once we're all living inside space suits anyway. But down to the important question: What color will they be? *laughs hysterically at self in her dark corner of the universe* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalith Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 hmmmm i always expected spacesuits to be silver but i don't see why they can't be any colour that the owner wishes for or pretty much in any design. But when it came down to it i'd probably go for silver lol but i do like a tie dye maybe a tie dyed space-caftan would be better lol after all why does it need to be a suit, i wanna have fun in space not goto an intergalactic business conference as interesting as that sounds ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 suit color? something easy to see from a distance so shiny, reflective, white or pastel colored.... and I want a decent sized tow-line and compressed-air-jet for moving around and back to the ship. I don't want to breathe vacuum. ::) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tierkreis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I can imagine a whole line of designer space suits . . . going to Mars will be the next big thing for celebrities. They'll wait for the next big thing in Space Fashion- I CAN'T WAIT! Space environments are always so sterile when they're scientific. I think it would be great if all the suits were rainbow tie dye and reflective. Certainly wonderful for visibility. Of course, it would also attract space-hippies, but the benefits far outweigh the risks if that's all there is to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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